First off... well, I don't quite know how to say this, so I'll just come right out and say it.

etnies BMX has joined MySpace. Yes, we have a MySpace account, and Yes, we know... we're lame (but I swear there will be no emo business coming from us!). Go add us as a friend and boost our self esteem.

Mike Escamilla has been keeping himself busy working on getting clips for the etnies video and working hard on a radio show for Sirius. Last week he headed up to Tahoe with Brian Kachinsky to attend Allan Cooke’s wedding, they went camping for the bachelor party and almost got blown away by 60 mph winds—but it’s all good. From there Mike and Brian drove to Reno to get some filming done for the etnies vid. The other day Mike was up in the Hollyweird Hills filming a pilot for a TV show.

Taj Mihelich got himself a new bike parts sponsor recently, so you’ll be seeing his bike decked out with Odyssey goodies top to bottom. He had to shoot an ad photo for them so that kept him occupied for a few. Taj also has been on some serious filming missions around town for the etnies vid with Stew Johnson as well as enjoying “Austin City Limits” that is going on in town this week. He got the royal treatment from the guys at Fender Guitars and was upfront, center stage watching Willy Nelson play so he was stoked!

Taj and his band The Snake Trap rapped up their record finally, so you should be hearing more about that soon.

Taj helped Joe finish up the T1 Booth for Interbike coming up the end of this month in Vegas… Taj will be in Vegas.

Jamie Bestwick has done nothing but dominate the contest scene the last couple of months (other than the questionable judging at X Games) and has been a traveling fool! He recently got back from New Zealand where he did circus-de-soliel style shows and enjoyed every minute of it. Right now he is home in the UK enjoying some down time with his family which is well deserved considering he has been away from his wife and son for almost 2 months. Jamie will be coming out to California to film for the etnies video at the end of this month at a secret location….

Morgan Wade is also a traveling fool! He was on the Cowboys & Carnage tour heading up the West Coast from San Diego to Vancouver filming along the way and having a splendid time (other than knocking a tooth out at the skatepark of Lake Forest during the team’s appearance there). While in Vancouver Morgan did a good amount of filming for the etnies vid and also killed it at the Vancouver Metro Jam where he placed a very close second to good friend, and San Diego shredder, Gary Young. The judging could have gone either way honestly, so it was all good! The following weekend after Metro, Morgan rode the Dew Tour in San Jose before doing a small filming trip down to LA through some of the best cement parks the North West has to offer.

Morgan is back in California right now supping up his VW GTI and wants to race anyone who’s up for it! He’ll be heading to Vegas for Interbike at the end of this month before heading home to Tyler.

Josh Stricker was in Europe for a while hanging with his girl, shredding and getting some filming done for the etnies vid coming up at the end of this year. Josh finally got over his Saturday Night palsy deal so he’s been happy camper. He’ll be heading to Vegas for Interbike and doing a small road trip back from there with Stew Johnson to do some final filming for the vid. Right now he’s home in Austin and enjoying some time in his own bed. Josh is working on some color ways of an existing shoe for etnies, so keep an eye out for Josh Stricker colored shoes… you know they’re going to be amazing!

Ruben Alcantara has been super busy as of late—first up he was on the etnies Cowboys & Carnage Tour (find some video here) that headed from San Diego all the way up to Vancouver. He hung out in Vancouver for 10 days filming for the etnies video and also did a little mountain biking on the side whilst up there, too. Following BC, Ruben did a little road trip down to San Jose, hitting up some cement parks along the way in Oregon and, again, filming for the vid. He hung out and did some surfing in Santa Cruz before getting back into LA where he continues to film for the etnies video with videographer bad-ass Mike Manzoori!

Joe Rich came out on the Cowboys & Carnage tour…he had a great time and was stoked to be able to ride a bunch of cement parks along the way. Joe only hung out in Vancouver for a few days but that was enough to enjoy Hastings Park (one of his faves). Joe flew back to Austin to get back to work at T1 and enjoy the new additions to the ramp out back. He has also been doing some little filming missions with Stew as well as rapping up the new T1 booth that will be debuted at Interbike next week in Vegas.

Sergio Layos was in the US doing the Cowboys & Carnage BMX tour having a good old time until he got up to Vancouver BC. He was riding the Hastings cement park when a lapse of concentration landed him right on his face and a trip to the hospital for some stitches—14 to be precise—and a trip back home to Madrid to do some recovering. He had planned on staying till Metro Jam but the trip got cut short by about a week. Get well dude! After some down time in Madrid, Sergio headed over to Milan, Italy where he checked out Oakley’s Spring 07 line to see what he would be rocking next year. He also did some really laid back demo’s for Oakley. He’s now back in Spain enjoying some alone time and working on some color ways of some existing etnies kicks.

John Heaton also had a blast out on the road with the Cowboys & Carnage tour, and fortunately for him the tour ended on home turf in Vancouver. He spent the next couple of weeks playing tour guide and trying to rally the troops to go filming…hopefully he got himself some clips in the meantime? John opted not to ride Metro this year… instead he went street riding with friends…good call! Now home, John has always been playing hockey on a regular basis. He worked a few days at 3 Ride shipping crap to kids and his girl Andrea has been out of town in Toronto so John has been baby sitting his two dogs Frank and Stein. John had to ride indoors at the “Igloo” this week coz of some rain, but when it wasn’t raining he was definitely shredding some cement as well as the streets. He will also be heading to Vegas for Interbike for Ryder Distribution, his parts sponsor.

Garrett Byrnes has been MIA in New Jersey, presumably working like a SOB and hopefully getting to ride whenever the urge hits (and hopefully filming that riding?)

Dave Freimuth is settled into his new house and after coming back from Europe all beat up and bruised, he got back into his regular routing of hanging out with his son Thompson and riding the local park as much as possible. From what I understand Dave is also building some ramps at his house, which he is super stoked about. This week he will be heading over to good friend Jamie Spritzers house where the second installment of Red Bull’s Backyard Build-Off is going down and he is one of the invited riders to shred the goodness once done.

Sandy Carson spent a solid month over in Europe. First he did a filming trip to Germany and then hung out at a very rainy Rebel Jam…he documented the whole trip for an upcoming DIG. While in Berlin for the Rebel Jam, due to rain, the crew found an abandoned warehouse and proceeded to build their own ghetto indoor street setup…good times! Sandy and Josh hung out a few extra days in Germany cruising around site seeing and riding, then sandy headed home to hang with his family back in Scotland. Right now Sandy is back in Austin working on a new issue of DIG, rapping up filming for the etnies vid and compiling everything for the book that is going to come with the video. Sandy will be in Vegas helping out Joe with the T1 booth at Interbike.

So why is it that when you do that thing to say it goes a long way trying to be placed to the seeing it go for as far it buys time to see and understand the fair yes to say the least as knowing the usual steps and things to place in the bag. You know what I'm saying....